By Matilda Atieno
County Department of Education is currently hosting Garissa County assembly and Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) department on a visit for a four days benchmarking exercise aimed at providing firsthand insights into Kisumu County Successful Early Childhood Development management and best practices.
The delegation included team from the County Assembly education committee together with the education department technical staff from Garissa. The team was also joined by the Programs Officer Mr. Stephen Miriuki of Council of Governors and UNICEF representatives who were the sponsors of the program.
The team led by CEC member John Awiti ang his Garissa County Counterpart Ebla Minhaj paid a courtesy call to Kisumu Deputy Governor Dr. Mathew Owili and held discussions on the best practices in the implementation and management of ECD and VTC sectors in the County.
Speaking on Tuesday at the County offices the Deputy Governor was grateful for the steps taken by the Education department and the County Assembly by giving early childhood education more attention and capitation and matching good intentions with great funding for programs from preschool and beyond.
The Garissa County CEC Member Elba Minhaj said that the exercise would help them not only learn from Kisumu as a county on the implementation of the ECD, and TVET but also improve their education system. He noted that Garissa identified Kisumu for the learning experience on ECDE and TVET since it has been implemented and it is considered a success Nationally.
“This experiential learning visit will ensure the five components of child welfare including Protection, well-being, prevention, partnership and paramountcy of the child are well-aligned during our implementation process. We are also willing to invite you to Garissa to share our experiences with you so that you can learn from us too,” she added
Apart from the board room discussions, the technical team also had field trip to ECDC at Obwolo, Magadi primary and Katito model centres as well as TVET centres at Obwolo, Rotary and Katito vocational training where both teams engaged positively so that they have a feel on nature and care as a learner-centered education.
The CEC Member Mr. Awiti stated that Kisumu is committed to giving children early start creatively with an enrichment program in ECD. Overall, CED has a lot to offer when it comes to developing active learning for children at a young age.
While recognizing the critical need for ECD and learning, the CEC Member Mr. John Awiti together with his technical team have reauthorized the ECDE Program and Vocational Training through a county government support to enable Kisumu to provide these initiatives to disadvantaged children and families.
Most importantly, Kisumu, ECD and VTC are recognized as critical parts of the County’s education system. Kisumu County’s education policy now includes multi-sectoral support that makes early childhood education a top priority.
The Kisumu was commended for putting up a strong emphasis on encouraging greater early learning by ensuring that children are better prepared to build upon that success as well as establishing functional of TVET centers with fullyfledge with well equiped baby care centers to accommodate young mother’s and their babies
In his farewell remarks, the COG representative Mr. Stephen Muriuki read the CEOs Ms. Mary Mwiti’s remarks, expressing appreciation to the leadership of Kisumu for working hard to promote nature and care at ECD level as well as having the best ECD policy.
In a farewell ceremony after three days of insightful knowledge exchange, learning and benchmarking the Garissa delegation appreciated Kisumu technical team for their hospitality and effort in taking them through the learning expedition around the county.
Key participants included technical staff from ECDE department and the County assembly committee members on education from both Garissa and Kisumu County.
